Christ
Rules The Whole Equation
Christ
Rules! Gospel of Mark Series (Part 20)
A Sermon
by Jim Hammond from Mark 9:30-50
OUTLINE:
I. Ignorance
is seeing only part of the equation
II. Jesus
Explained Life’s Whole Equation
(When the blanks are NOT
filled in we are only looking at part of the equation)
A. __________________________ Ambition is the Answer
B. __________________________ Sin brings Happiness
III. Christ
Rules the Whole Equation
MANUSCRIPT
I.
Ignorance is Seeing Only Part of the Equation
A Letter of Recommendation
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LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION
Bob Smith, my assistant programmer, can always be found
hard at work in his cubicle. Bob works independently, without
wasting company time talking to colleagues. Bob never
thinks twice about assisting fellow employees, and he always
finishes given assignments on time. Often Bob takes extended
measures to complete his work, sometimes skipping coffee
breaks. Bob is a dedicated individual who has absolutely no
vanity in spite of his high accomplishments and profound
knowledge in his field. I firmly believe that Bob can be
classed as a high-caliber employee, the type which cannot be
dispensed with. Consequently, I duly recommend that Bob be
promoted to executive management, and a proposal will be
sent away as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Project Leader
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The following Memo was soon sent following "The
Letter"
That stupid dolt was reading over my shoulder when I wrote the
report sent to you earlier today. Kindly read every second line
(i.e.. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, ..) for my true assessment of him.
Regards,
Derek Crabb
Project Leader [i]
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Very intelligent men can say very stupid things
when they see only part of the equation.
n
Simon Newcomb, astronomer, 1903 stated
emphatically: “The demonstration that no possible combination
of known substances, known forms of machinery, and known forms of force
can be united in a practical machine by which man shall fly long
distances through the air, seems to the writer as complete as it is
possible for the demonstration of any physical fact to be.”
n
Daniel Webster, Senate speech, 1848 stated,
“I have never heard of anything, and I cannot conceive of
anything more ridiculous, more absurd, and more affrontive to all sober
judgment than the cry that we are profiting by the acquisition of New
Mexico and California. I hold that they are not worth a dollar!”
n
Admiral William D. Leahy said to President Truman in
1945,
“That is the biggest fool thing we have ever done. The bomb
will never go off, and I speak as an expert on explosives.” [ii]
What is the basis for
such ignorant statements? These
people were short sighted. They
didn’t see the whole equation. If
only a few decades could make such a huge difference in one’s opinion
and viewpoint, imagine what advantage an eternal perspective gives.
Christ Rules the Whole Equation.
He sees the whole equation.
We tend to look at only parts of the equation.
Ignorance of the whole equation can be comical.
Ignorance of the whole equation can be tragic.
Sometimes Ignorance is a tragic comedy.
So it is in Mark 9:30-50. The
disciples were still ignorant of the whole equation.
Focus:
Jesus explained life’s whole equation.
This life is only part of the equation.
On the other side of the equation is the afterlife. What happens here and now can affect the then and there
forever.
Mark 9:30 through Mark 9:50 (NIV)
30They
left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to
know where they were, 31because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The
Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill
him, and after three days he will rise.”
32But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to
ask him about it.
33They
came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?”
34But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about
who was the greatest.
[Jesus must have
known what they were arguing about even if they didn’t tell him,. in
view of what he says next].
35Sitting
down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the
servant of all.”
36He
took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his
arms, he said to them, 37“Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name
welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who
sent me.”
[Jesus places a
child in front of them as an object lesson.
A child is without rank or greatness or honor and shows them the
path to greatness is to reach down to the little ones, not to climb over
them or ignore them to make sure you are one of the big ones.
True greatness is reaching down, as Jesus reaches down.]
38“Teacher,”
said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told
him to stop, because he was not one of us.”
39“Do
not stop him,”
Jesus said. “No
one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything
bad about me, 40for whoever is not against us is for us. 41I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in
my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.
42“And
if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it
would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone
tied around his neck. 43If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for
you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the
fire never goes out. 45And
if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to
enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. 47And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you
to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be
thrown into hell, 48where
“‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’
49Everyone will be salted with fire. 50“Salt
is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again?
Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”
Ignorance of
the whole equation can be comical.
Ignorance of the whole equation can be tragic. Sometimes ignorance is a comic tragedy, or a tragic comedy.
Jesus takes
the disciples aside and tells them where he is going. The disciples are following Jesus “on the way”,
translated here “on the road”.
On the road to where? On
the way to where? Where is
Jesus going? The cross.
“On the
Road” “On the Way”
[see Mark 10:32f.]
With the use
of the same phrase:
Mark 10:32
through Mark 10:34 (NIV) 32They
were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the
disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again
he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. 33“We
are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and
teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him
over to the Gentiles, 34who
will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later
he will rise.”
What are the
disciples doing as they follow him?
Arguing about who will be the greatest in his Kingdom.
If it wasn’t so tragic, it would be comical.
Jesus is solemnly walking to the cross while the clowns behind
him are arguing about who is the greatest.
Please repeat
this phrase after me. It
will become more powerful before this morning is over.
“You Know
The Way better than I” (say
it to God)
II. Jesus Explained
Life’s Whole Equation
The whole equation includes the kingdom here, and
the Kingdom of heaven, and how right now we are in the overlapping of
two kingdoms.
The disciples focused on the partial
equation—that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah, and he was going to
rule forever. They didn’t
factor into the equation anything about a dying Messiah.
Jesus knew the whole equation.
That he would go to the cross and rise from the dead.
Jesus explained that the forever rule at first begins within,
transforming you and later there will be the forever rule.
There are many partial equations that we get
tripped up over. The
partial equation the disciples tripped up over was that Jesus, their
leader predicted that he would be killed.
The full equation includes what that death would mean, and that
he rose from the dead victorious.
A partial equation might include your diagnosis:
You are terminal. The full equation is that God isn’t dead, and this isn’t
heaven yet.
A partial equation includes the partial statements
below on your outline before the blanks filled in.
“Ambition is the answer”
Pull yourself up by the boot straps you can do it.
Strive. Think
positively. Have faith in
yourself, you can climb the ladder to success.
This is only a partial equation.
An equation that Jesus addressed.
We will look at the full equation in a moment.
Another partial equation includes the next
statement below on your outline before the blanks are filled in—“Sin
brings happiness.” Most
of us who have come here know better.
But yet we still sin sometimes.
We sin only because sometimes we have focused in on the partial
equation rather than the full equation.
Sin has a payoff, or we wouldn’t do it.
That pay off, that momentary pleasure, or happiness, or
advancement, or self promotion—whatever that was is something we
believed in for that time. We
believed it would make us happy, if even for a moment.
We are definitely not focusing on the whole equation when we sin.
Jesus made statements here that force us to consider the whole
equation.
As one who Rules the whole equation, Jesus
addresses both of these partial equations.
Let’s complete the first partial equation:
A. Reaching Down the
Ladder of Ambition is the Answer
Jesus places a child in front of them as an object
lesson. A child is
without rank, or greatness, or honor and shows them the path to
greatness is to reach down to the little ones, not to climb over them or
ignore them to make sure you are one of the big ones.
True greatness is reaching down, as Jesus reaches down.
Joe White tells the story of this kind of greatness
he saw in high school:
The measure of greatness
A
tragic childhood encounter with polio had left Cathy’s face distorted,
mouth twisted, and throat permanently paralyzed.
Her speech was broken and difficult to understand.
But a sweetness and purity beamed tenderly from a beautiful pair
of blue eyes. When her all-important senior prom arrived, she had never
been asked for date. Her
fate as a social outcast was obvious.
Nobody would ask Kathy to our prom -- well, nobody except David,
the president of our student council!
David
was tall, gentle, and kind. He
wasn't an athlete of any variety, but his popularity increased as his
unselfish heart grew to be appreciated on our high school campus of 400
students. When David showed
up with Kathy at the prom, we all felt like giving him a standing
ovation! He wasn't there to
get attention. He simply
believed that Cathy’s need for love and acceptance was more important
than the ridicule he might receive for bringing her.
He didn't get any ridicule.
He only received respect.
Who
took the school beauty to that prom?
I don't recall. Who took the homecoming queen?
I forgot that, too. I
don't recall my own date, but David is in my personal Hall of Fame.
At the prom Kathy was noticed by another fine neighborhood friend
named Jimmy, who recognized Cathy’s splendid potential.
Her dreams were fulfilled two years later when Jimmy asked Cathy
for her hand in marriage. David
was, I think, a truly great person.[iii]
B.
Radical Amputation Of Sin brings Happiness
If we saw our sin from heaven’s vantage point we
would be quick to dismiss it. Sin
is what we do when we are not fully satisfied with God.
Sin is what we do when we focus on only part of the equation,
feasting on this side of the equation, trying very hard not to think
about the negative consequences.
Sin doesn’t bring
true happiness. It is
always short sighted. The
pleasures of sin are always short lived.
When we sin we sacrifice our futures on the altar of the present.
Jesus used startling
language to stress the importance of cutting sin out of our life.
Painful self-discipline is required of his true followers. He is not
advocating literally cutting off a hand.
First of all, that doesn’t work.
A thief can still steal with one hand, or none for that matter. But Jesus is telling us in the starkest, strongest of terms,
do whatever it takes to cut sin out of your life. Giving up a relationship, job, or habit that is against
God’s will may seem just as painful as cutting off a hand. Our high goal, however, is worth the sacrifice; Christ is
worth any possible loss. Nothing should stand in the way of faith. We
must be ruthless in removing sin from our life now in order to avoid
suffering for eternity. Make your choices from an eternal perspective.
Jesus gave us the
stark but whole equation. The
whole equation includes eternal consequences.
He described the negative consequences of sin running unchecked
in the grossest of terms. The
most painful thing imaginable was used to describe internal and external
torment. Internal torment,
where the worm does not die, and external torment, where the fire does
not go out.
Sin will not make you
happy. The amputation of
sin, as painful as it is, will make you happy in the long run.
REPEAT THE
PHRASE AGAIN TO GOD: “You
Know The Way better than I”
Not only does Christ Explain the whole Equation to
us. . . .
III.
Christ Rules the Whole Equation
Christ knew the whole equation. He explained the whole equation, and now he rules the whole
equation.
Christ ruled his own destiny. Christ made choices that changed our destinies also forever.
What he did makes a difference in the equation.
This is New Math at it’s best.
My Sin + Christ’s Payment = Justice
Therefore My Faith in Christ + Christ’s Righteousness and His
Payment = Forgiveness and Eternal Life
His sovereign control reaches down into today’s
equation. This isn’t just
pie in the sky by and by.
Paul stated the whole equation this way.
Romans
8:28 (NIV) 28And
we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,
who have been called according to his purpose.
View Video Segment Spielberg Video: Joseph:
King of Dreams
YOU KNOW BETTER THAN I
I thought
I did what’s right
I thought
I had the answers
I thought
I chose the surest road
But that
road brought me here
So I put
up a fight
And told
you how to help me
Now just
when I have given up
The truth
is coming clear
You know
better than I
You Know
the Way
I’ve let
go the need to know why
For you
know better than I
If this
has been a test
I cannot
see the reason
But maybe
knowing I don’t know
Is part of
getting through
I try to
do what’s best
And faith
has made it easy
To see the
best thing I can do
Is put my
trust in you
For You
know better than I
You Know
the Way
I’ve let
go the need to know why
For you
know better than I
I saw one
cloud had gone across the sky
I saw a bird
and thought that I could follow
But it was you
who taught that bird to fly
If I let you
reach me, will you teach me
For You
know better than I
You Know
the Way
I’ve let
go the need to know why
I’ll
take what answers you supply
You know
better than I
Full
assurance that Christ Rules the Whole equation makes a huge difference
in the midst of every circumstance.
It makes a difference when you are tempted; you’d rather cut
off your hand or eye than sin and cut off life.
It makes a difference when you are struggling; you make the best
of each situation because you know that Christ knows better than you the
whole equation and the whole outcome.
It makes a difference as you serve him; you know everything is a
part of the bigger picture. So whatever you do you do it unto Him.
In
order for God’s new Math to work, you have to come to him on his
terms, his new covenant terms. He
says you must place your faith in Jesus.
He says you must now entrust your life to Jesus and let Christ
rule your life—the whole equation of your life.
Let him rule you on this side in the here and now and he will
rule you on that side of the equation in the forever then and there.
[i] http://www.notboring.com/jokes/work/2.htm
[ii] Leadership Journal, Vol.
5, no. 1.
[iii] Joe White,
Who’s Number One?
Tyndale house 1986. p. 79-80
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